FREMANTLE has suffered a big slump in memberships this season, AFL figures reveal.
The Dockers have witnessed a 7.6 per cent fall in their membership numbers – the biggest drop in the league – with St Kilda down 7.1 per cent.
Port Adelaide (down 4.5 per cent) and Adelaide (down 0.5 per cent) were the only other clubs to have a drop in members, according to the AFL’s 2019 statistics.
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READ NOWGWS experienced the largest increase – 19.3 per cent – but remain third lowest on overall membership numbers.
Only Gold Coast (13,649) and Brisbane (28,023) have fewer members than the Giants (30,109).
Richmond remain the club with the most members – 103,358, up 2.6 per cent from last year – followed by West Coast (90,445, up 12.7 per cent), Collingwood (85,226, up 12.9 per cent) and Essendon (84,237, up 6.2 per cent).
In total, there were a record 1,057,572 club members this year and 11 clubs set records for club membership this year.
Those were Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Geelong Cats, Gold Coast, GWS, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Richmond, Sydney and West Coast.
The official AFL club membership tally was compiled after a July 31 deadline, with an overall rise of 4.87 per cent from last year.